Rotten Apple
by Handmaiden of Awesomeness
Summary: Batman kept looking long after the Gotham Police Department called off the case. He came up with no leads to the murderer or the case of the missing body of Richard Grayson. Another family torn apart and there was nothing to show for it. History likes to repeat itself.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**EDIT: This chapter was revised 22/01/2014**

**Edit: This chapter was kidnapped 8/4/14**

_The scene seemed to slow down in an instant as the six figures tumbled towards the ground. The faces among the crowd turned to shock and horror. Cheerful music of the circus bellowed out, un-wavered by the sickening crunch that followed their downfall._

_Pain. That's all he could recognize. It hurt so much. What had he just been doing? He couldn't remember. Wasn't his trapeze debut with his parents today? That's right, if he didn't get up soon he'd be late. If he didn't get up soon, mom would scold him and threaten to not let him perform. He'd waited for this for so long, he'd get up soon. He only wanted five more minutes. Just five more, then he'd get up…_

Police Commissioner Jim Gordon arrived home late that night. It had been a long and tiring shift and he desperately needed some sleep to clear his head.

He flung his coat over the back of a chair at the kitchen table before opening the small fridge and peered in, unable to raise any type of appetite for the food it contained. It just felt wrong.

Especially after tonight.

A shadow swept across the far corner of the room near the window. Gordon swiftly pulled his gun out and aimed it at the shadowed figure.

"Show yourself!" he ordered to the darkness. The figure glided into view. Batman. Gordon let out an annoyed grunt, still holding up his gun. "Can't you use normal office hours? Or call? This _is_my _house_ in case you hadn't noticed."

"The Graysons," Batman said, ignoring Gordon. "What do you know?"

Jim Gordon lowered his gun, but kept it at his side, ready to use if necessary.

"Not much." he said "Ropes were unstable and they snapped. Karla Grayson and her son John died instantly. Her husband Rick was in Intensive Care, in a coma last I heard. John and Mary Grayson died on impact. Their kid, Richard, died not too soon after. An accident … or at least I_ thought_ it was."

"The ropes." the vigilante stated. "There was acid on them, sabotage."

The commissioner stared for a second in disbelief "How'd you-" he began, but then stopped "Never mind. But that's not the weirdest part." Gordon loosened his hold on his gun and raised a hand to his face rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses, a grim expression crossing his features.

He looked up at Batman, locking his gaze on the white lenses "The kid's body, it's missing."

Batman's glare sharpened. "How?" he said, the anger clear in his voice.

"That's the thing," Gordon began, dropping his hands from his face "We don't know. The bodies were delivered to the Police Department's morgue after the crime scene was cleared. The cameras cut for five minutes, an hour after delivery, and the body was gone. Not a trace of it ever being there except for the camera footage from beforehand. Nobody was seen entering or leaving, it just-" Gordon looked up to find Batman no longer there "-disappeared…"

Gordon grabbed the nearest kitchen chair and collapsed into it, placing his gun back in its holster. He placed his head in his hands, thinking things through. Why did this have to happen along with everything else? Who goes to so much trouble to steal one kid's body? He grimaced, realizing there was probably some freak or another in Gotham capable of it. Was it the saboteur? Did the kid's body contain some evidence they'd missed?

"Dad?" a small voice called out, ending his train of thought.

Gordon looked up to find his daughter in the doorway of the kitchen, "Barbara." his voice softened, "What are you doing out of bed? Have a bad dream?"

"No!" she said defiantly "I'm too old for nightmares, you just woke me up!" the ten year old red head crossed her arms and pouted at her father.

He chuckled softly before walking over to her and sweeping her up in his arms "Come on sweet heart, I'll tuck you in again."

Batman kept looking long after the Gotham Police Department called off the case. He came up with no leads to the murderer or the case of the missing body of Richard Grayson. Soon the family's case was overshadowed by larger events and placed to one side, but never forgotten. Batman carried the guilt on his shoulders. Another family torn apart and there was nothing to show for it. History likes to repeat itself.

**Whelp here it is. My co-writer on this story chocolate-sugar can't keep writing so I adopted the story. I have the second chapter on the way and should be getting the rest up soon. Happy Reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**EDIT: This chapter was revised 03/02/2014**

**Edit: kidnapped 8/4/14**

**EDIT: Chapter really finished 11/3/14**

_**Five years later**_

_"Hey, Superboy," Kid Flash said, "the moon."_

_Superboy's his eyes widening as he noticed what the speedster was trying to bring to his attention. The pictures in his head had nothing on the real thing. Superboy had search through the newly available words in his head to find the right one. _

_It stood out starkly on its dark backdrop and it was beautiful. _

_Suddenly, he was aware of everything around him for the first time. The cool night breeze, the soft buzz of the street lights, the stars._

_As he became entranced at seeing the moon for the first time, he noticed a small black spec centered in front of it and steadily growing larger. Even with his powers, Superboy squinted to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was._

_Any doubt was cast aside as the figure came closer and Kid Flash spoke again._

_"Wow. And Superman." Kid Flash looked towards Superboy, who was focused entirely on the oncoming figure. "Do we keep our promises or what?"_

_"Not just Superman." Speedy growled crossing his arms. He directed a sharp glare towards Superman as the presence of the rest of the League became clear, "Looks like the whole League decided to pay us a visit."_

_The team looked around as the Justice League members landed. Speedy glared at Green Arrow as he was lowered with the rest of the non-flying members on Green Lantern's platform. Most of the League kept on the ground above the crater created by the collapse of the Cadmus lab. The perfect position to look down on the four below._

_Superman landed. _

_It was Superboy who made the first move. _

_He started from the back of the group and headed towards Superman. He lifted the top half of his ripped suit back into place, revealing the symbol printed on it. Superman's symbol._

_The man of steel's eyes widened in something like horror before his features hardened._ _Batman appeared soundlessly beside Superman and spoke._

_"Is that what I think it is?" _

_It was more of statement than a question._

_"He doesn't like being called an 'it'." Kid Flash said warily, edging forward._

_Superboy met Superman's eyes. The anticipation of meeting his 'donor' slowly drained away, the look in Superman's eyes screaming that it was not deserved. He glanced down toward his chest. Letting go of the fabric, he met Superman's eyes once again._

_"I'm Superman's clone." Superboy spat each word out like a challenge, squaring up to Superman._

_Shock and concern rippled through the Justice League. All except one._

_Batman looked towards the others, watching them silently for a moment._

_"Start talking."_

_Batman didn't say a word as they explained their story. The other Justice League members who heard them glanced at each other once in a while, clearly disturbed._

_Batman and Superman talked to the rest of the League, then returned back to the young heroes. Flash, Aquaman and Green Arrow trailed behind him._

_"Cadmus will be investigated. All fifty-two levels of it, however-"_

_"You should've called!" Flash cut in, distressed._

"However."_ Batman began again, "Results aside, you abused your access to League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will _not _be doing this again."_

_Surprisingly, Speedy had remained silent, slowly steaming as the conversation progressed. He had been staring down The Leaguers, but on hearing Batman's words he snapped._

_"Oh, I think I __will__." he snarled, glaring at his mentor in front of him, then at the younger heroes next to him, "In case you forgot, I don't belong to you anymore. You have no say in what I do. I did this to help them not you."_

_"Speedy please," Green arrow stepped forward placing a hand on his student's shoulder. "You didn't actually mean that, did you? Come on lets-"_

_The young archer gripped his former mentor's wrist tightly, wrenched it away, and resisted the very strong urge to punch the man in the face._

_"I was very serious and I meant every word." Turning away from Green Arrow, Speedy looked towards Aqualad, Kid Flash and Superboy once more._

_"If you're going to just go back to being ordered around again then be my guest. I thought you were done with that, but __I'm_ _not about to sit around and be _used,_ like some 'side kick'." With a final glare in the direction of the League, he stalked away angrily, his limp forgotten._

_Green Arrow started after him but Aquaman stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head slightly. If he went after Speedy now there was going to be nothing but trouble._

_Speedy's outburst created a tense atmosphere among the circle of heroes. Aqualad stepped forward with a determined look on his face._

_"I apologize, but Speedy is right. We will be doing this again."_

_"Aqualad," His king warned him, "Stand down."_

_"Apologies my King, but no. We did good work tonight. The work you trained us to do." He motioned towards Kid Flash and Superboy, "Together we defied the odds and forged something powerful, important. A team."_

_"If this is about your treatment at the hall then-" Flash began._

_"C'mon you know it's not!" The young speedster cut in, "Don't you see can do this? I mean look at what we found! We can do it again."_

_"Why should we even let them tell us what to do? Maybe Speedy was right." Superboy crossed his arm defiantly. "It's simple really, _**_either get on board or get out of the way_**_."_

Wally was slumped on a couch in Mount Justice, their 'new' base of operations, and was shoveling down a plate of Miss Martian's cookies with an absent look on his face.

It had been a week since the Cadmus episode. A whole week! And there hadn't been a single mission to go on. To say Wally was bored would be an understatement, he was a speedster and speedsters don't like to sit still for long. A week of no crime fighting was the closest thing to torture Wally could think of.

Sighing he looked around the room for anything to distract himself with. He eyed Aqualad, who sat in the furthest chair away, reading an Atlantian scripture on the magic arts.

A clatter of pans brought his attention to Miss Martian, or Megan as she insisted being called, who was in the kitchen trying out new recipes. A flirtatious grin spread across his face as he watched the beautiful green girl work. Man, was she pretty. Megan glanced up and caught Wally's eye, smiling brightly at him. He smirked back at her and winked, before returning to his plate of treats.

After eating the majority of the cookies he turned to look at Superboy, who was staring at the static playing on the TV.

"Hey, Supes."

Superboy only turned his head and glared at the red head causing him to shift uncomfortably. He knew Superboy wouldn't hurt him, (probably) but would it kill the guy to smile once in a while? Wally swallowed before continuing, "Uh, mind if I change the channel?"

Superboy's glare intensified

"Well, I mean, statics great an' all but you've been watching it for three hours straight." Superboy only grunted in what could be interpreted as a form of agreement, before handing Wally the remote.

Quickly accepting the remote, Wally flicked through the local channels at lightning speed, a string of nonsensical words erupting from each passing channel. He continued doing this until he stopped on one particular channel. Sirens and frightened shouts blasted from the TV. A news reporter appeared in front of a row of armed police officers who all faced a small building.

"The situation inside the building remains unclear," she stated, "I do, however, have official reports that this _is_ a hostage situation. Five people are currently being held inside the vicinity by an unidentified man. A second figure has been spotted but an exact description and their involvement is yet to be confirmed. A demand through radio has been made for several thousand dollars. More on this situation later as we-" Wally had never stood up at such a speed in his life. He knocked his forgotten food onto the floor, a determined grin spreading across his face.

"Hey, guys!" everyone turned towards him, Wally motioned towards the TV, "Looks like we just got our first mission."

The room was large and hollow and had an ancient Victorian aura surrounding it. It was decorated in traditional 1800s fashion, a detailed chandelier hanging at the center. It was dimly lit and the room showed no signs of windows. Nine formally dressed people sat along a rectangular table, four on both sides and an older woman at the head. Two young children, a girl and a boy, knelt on the floor beside the table playing with small faceless dolls. Every person in the room but one wore a plain white mask, which smoothed over all features except for their hollowed eyes. They seemed to see everything and pierce through any kind of darkness you could possibly try to hide behind.

Their deadly gaze was focused on a lone dark figure that stood at the opposite end of the table, a different, more elaborate mask engraved like an owl with large eyes covering his face. As frightening as their gaze was, the figure seemed unaffected by it, as if immune.

"You now understand your mission, Talon." It was the woman at the head of the table who spoke, the statement directed towards the shadow at the foot of the table.

"Of course." He stated.

"Good. We do not usually associate with the Shadows; however, it is necessary for your mission. Do not disappoint us. I need not remind you of what failure will result in." The last sentence was spoken with what seemed to be light amusement from the woman. However, if the boy noticed her tone he did not acknowledge it.

"No," he replied again, raising his masked face to meet hers, _"masters."_

The woman smirked through her mask "Very well. Go then, Gray Son of Gotham."

The boy placed his right fist over his heart, bowing slightly, before disappearing through the hall's main doors.

The young girl from the main hall sat atop a tall building, her legs swinging back and forth over the edge. In the gloomy night, her blonde, curly, locks caught the breeze and swayed. She hummed a childish tune whilst watching the shadows of the city move below her.

_Beware The Court of Owls that watches all the time_

_Ruling Gotham from a shadow perch behind granite and lime._

_They watch you at your hearth; they watch you in your bed,_

_Speak not a whispered word of them or they'll send The Talon for your _**_head._**

**Blah! Well here is where our writing ended. We were working on Chapter 3 when things fell through so the next one was mostly rewritten****. Up until now this has been a combination of my and chocolate-sugar's work and we came up with some ideas together but the rest is a new creation. Wish me luck! Happy reading!**


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